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David Garrick was the third child of Peter and Arabella Garrick. His father had come to England as a child when his father, David de la Garrique, fled France during the French Wars of Religion. David Garrick was raised in Lichfield, his mother’s hometown, while his father served as a recruiting officer in Gibraltar for much of Garrick’s childhood. He was educated at Lichfield Grammar School and staged amateur theatricals during his time there. After leaving school, he enrolled in Samuel Johnson’s Edial Hall School, intending to embark on a career in law. Garrick and Johnson became friends and traveled to London together in 1737 to forge new careers.

As a young man in London, David Garrick had an affair with the actress Margaret “Peg� Woffington, with whom he lived for a short period. Around this time he was also rumored to have fathered a child with the actress, Jane Green. In 1749, he married the Viennese dancer Eva Maria Veigel. They had no children but were renowned for their devotion to each other. The union lasted for 30 years, until Garrick’s death in 1779. They owned three homes, two in London and one in Hampton, where he built a palatial villa and erected a garden folly which he named Shakespeare’s Temple. Garrick was especially close to his younger brother, George, who followed him to London and aided him in his work and private life until their deaths in 1779. Garrick died at his home in Adelphi, London in January 1779 and his funeral procession was one of the grandest London had ever seen. His wife survived him by 43 years but she did not remarry.

Key Dates & Events

• 1741 - Garrick makes his first appearance on the London stage
• 1747 - Garrick becomes co-manager of the Drury Lane Theatre
• 1769 - The first Shakespeare Jubilee is organized in Stratford-Upon-Avon
• 1831 - The Garrick Club is established to posthumously honor Garrick's work
• 1889 - The Garrick Theatre in the West End of London opens